Manufacture of felted goods



(ModelJ' D. BEATTY.

MANUFACTURE OF FELTBD GOODS. 7 No. 261,521. Patented July 25, 1882.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DEMPSTER BEATTY,OF MISHAWAKA, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO THE GRAND RAPIDS FELT BOOT COMPANY, OF GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN.

MANUFACTU'RE OI FELTED'GQODS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 261,521, dated July 25, 1882.

Application filed June 1, 1882. (ModeL) I To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DEMPSTER BEAT'IY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Mishawaka, in the county of St. Joseph and State of Indiana, haveinventcd new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Felted Goods, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the manufacture of that class of boots, shoes, and other analogous articles of wear in which a bat of fiber is placed upon aform or pattern-board and then felted or consolidated into a felted web.

My improvementconsistsin a cloth or other flexible cover adapted to inclose the bat or fiber after the latter has been placed upon the form or pattern-board, and further adapted to be drawn closely and tightly upon the soft bat of wool, so as to hold the same in place and prevent seams or wrinkles during the process of felting.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents the bat of wool laid upon the pattern-board with the cover secured over the wool, portions of the cover and the wool being represented as broken away in order to more clearly illustrate the relative position of the parts. Fig. 2 represents the pattern-board. Fig. 3 shows the cover removed and opened.

The pattern-board A, which in this instance is designed for a boot,is composed of metal or any other suitable material.

B indicates the hat of wool, which is placed upon the pattern-board for the purpose of being felted or compacted, so as to partake of the shape of the pattern-board.

The cover 0, which is composed of canvas or other suitable cloth or analogous flexible material, is made to conform to the shape of the pattern-board, and is open along the -leg and the foot portion, as at c c. In the present instance the meeting edges of this cover are drawn together by means of a cord, D, passed around buttons E, that are secured at proper intervals to the two edges.

After the wool has been placed upon the pattern-board the cover can be fitted over the same and laced up, thereby drawing it tightly upon the hat of wool, so that during the process'of felting no seams or wrinkles can by any possibility occur in the wool.

- In place of the lacing herein shown, straps and buckles can be employed or other forms of lacing used; also, the cover can be adapted for a shoe or for a mitten, as maybe desired.

The felting process is carried on as usual in manufacturing this class of goods, and the wool fiber consolidated to form the required article.

What I claim is- 1. As a means for preveutingthe occurrence of seams and wrinkles in the manufacture of felted goods, a flexible cover adapted to be fitted and drawn closely upon the hat of wool which is placed on the pattern-board, substantially as described.

2. The herein-described flexible cover, open from end to end, and provided with suitable lacing, said cover being made to conform to the shape of the pattern-board employed in 

